Controversy over First War of Indian Independence
No, I am not referring to the endless arguments about whether this should be called a revolt, mutiny, rebellion, uprising or war. Nor am I talking about whether it should be called "Indian" at all considering that there was no united India in 1857 and that most of what is India today stayed out of it or violently opposed it. [Such debates are best addressed by any appropriately appointed parliamentary sub-committee paid for by the tax payer's money].
I refer to the controversy over the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the First (War/Uprising/Rebellion/Mutiny/Revolt) of (Indian/part of India's/part of the British Raj's) Independence. The National Implementation Committee (NIC) has agreed to the proposal of the Youth Affairs Ministry to organize the day long event at the Red Fort along with the Asian Heritage Foundation despite a conflict of interest. HRD Minister, Arjun Singh pointed out that Rajeev Sethi, who is part of the NIC is closely associated the Foundation. Nothing was done about this because it was too late to find an alternative.
There were also concerns that the costs were too high. After some bickering NIC set the budget at Rs 26.35 crores (about 27 million USD in PPP terms) out of which 37 lakhs (about 380,000 USD in PPP terms) was the cap on the administrative costs. Does that sound a trifle high for a day long event? And are you at all wondering at what the administrative costs entailed are?
While some in India are spending today at work scarcely giving a second thought to the sacrifices of the martyrs of 1857 (and the babus involved in organizing the celebrations), India's parliament is truly enjoying their independence. Our beloved leaders will not be concerning themselves with running the country today, but will be instead be busy in various celebrations with even the cabinet not meeting today. I hope you can tell the difference.
2 comments:
there was an interesting article in HT and asia age pointing out thedouble standards of rajeev sethi asked for 9 crores for this one day affair ..
this article was effective ...it shows this strange nexus between congress party and how they splurge on this kind of one day stuff for 20 crores, meanwhile other artists have built better art presentations, including museums for a fraction of this cost...
it would have been better if this was done as a contribution by all those who valued freedom by not charging fees,. instead it showed the un controllable and vulgar display of greed of the government and rajeev sethi...
what is interesting is the clear expose of conflict of interest in the article,
spending 24 crores while lives of millions of ons of the soil artists lives including those on the verge of suicide can be prevented for a fraction of what has been spent...
A couple of thousand rupees can change artists lives, young atrists and give them meaning and hope ...while the government splurges tax payers money on useless evenet only seen by a fraction of the people..
this whole thing is vulgar and it is better for rajeev and others out there to return the money.. wh couldnt he do this for free?
i wonder why these incidents are not considered criminal offences
Anon (@May 13, 2007 4:52 PM):
Could you post a link to the HT and Asian Age articles? I am personally not acquainted with Rajeev Sethi and cannot comment at all about whether the 9 crores is justified. However, I am very curious to know what he did to deserve that kind of price.
Whether Rajeev Sethi should have done the event pro bono is his personal choice and I don't think we should comment on whether someone should be charitable or not.
Where I agree with you completely is that it seems very indulgent to spend 26 crores on a day long event when that same money could have been spent much better in ways that would have touched many more citizens. While all this is definitely wasteful, it is criminal only if any corruption can be proved (however much it might seem that such vulgarity should be punishable).
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